I didn’t talk about it much.
I didn’t think about it much
but
my gay dad
stopped eating pork
while I was a teenager.

He was getting more in touch
with his religion
my gay dad was
and
he didn’t feel he was living
quite so righteous a life
when he fed on the swine.

And I thought
– when I thought about it –
“So what?
A man can eat
as he chooses
at whatever times
and of whatever delicacies.
Who am I to judge
how he dines?”
Even though I love bacon
with every fiber of my tongue.

My gay dad was inconsistent
about his kashruth consumption.
His shrimp intake never abated
– though I noted he never ate the tails –
but my gay dad never smoked or swallowed a sausage
any time
after I was sixteen.

His dining tendencies
are not what defined my gay dad.
I didn’t care that much
about what he ate
or didn’t.
I’m just glad
he enjoyed what he had.